Texas Week, Volume 1, Number 11, October 26, 1946 Page: 29
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Walker was the "best damned general
a division ever had." They still weren't
happy that Gen. George C. Marshall had
called him back from Italy in 1944 to
take over the Infantry School at Fort
Benning. So, at the organization meet-
ing of the 36th Division Association, old
TNGers agreed that they wanted
Walker as the new commanding general
of the TNG.
By then the army had retired him at
58, so when Gov. Coke Stevenson ap-
proached him with the offer, he took it,
and became the commanding general of
the Texas National Guard and the Texas
State Guard. When he 'took over last
15 April, the authorized strength of the
TNG was 29,321, but Lieutenant General
Fred L. Walker was the only man on
the roster.
Fred Walker started as a private in
the Ohio Cavalry, got to be a first
sergeant before he chose the army as
his career and won a commission with-
out benefit of West Point. He served
in the Philippines and the other usual
between-war assignments until 1916,
when he came to Texas to join Persh-
ing's punitive expedition to Mexico.
Then Walker got into the 3rd Infantry
Division for World War I, emerged a
lieutenant colonel with decorations from
the Marne.
Didn't Jibe With Clark
He was back in Texas with the Second
Division at Fort Sam until early 1941,
took over the 36th a few months after
it had been federalized, and stayed with
it until July, 1944, when his ideas didn't
quite jibe with those of Gen. Mark
Clark, who was a couple of notches
above Walker in Italy. As commandant
of the Infantry School until 1945 when
he was retired, Walker got a refresher
on the kind of training men of the TNG
ground units will get.
It's almost a military axiom that a
National Guard unit doesn't survive a
war, and Walker, the man chosen by
Texans to rebuild their National Guard
after World War II, is starting from
scratch.
When the 36th Division was called
into Federal service in October, 1940,
operations were begun which will be
several years ending. First job was to
build up a home guard of over-age,
underage and physically disqualified men
to protect the state while the National
Guard was away. From 1940 to 1942,
the Texas Defense Guard functioned,
then became the Texas State Guard
which is still in operation and which
will gradually dissolve as the Texas Na-
tional Guard is re-established.
Grow From Top Down
National Guard units, which have
state responsibilities in peacetime and
federal responsibilities in times of na-
tional emergency, grow from the top
down. Last week, Gen. Walker had
written the names of 200 officers into
the blanks beside the titles on his Table
of Organization, but as yet, there wasn't
a single unit of the TNG activated. But
Fred Walker was taking his carefulIs
'VI
REPLACEMENTS IN LINE....................War over for State Guard
To take the four top ground com-
mands, Walker had been neutral in the
Dallas-Fort Worth rivalry. Major Gen.
Richard B. Dunbar of Fort Worth com-
mands the 49th Armored Division.
Major Gen. Preston L. Weatherred of
time, trying to choose officers under
whom the TNG would attract its heavy
quota of 29,321.
TNG'S GENERAL WALKER
... "Best Damned General"Dallas commands the 36th Division.
That same balance was used in choosing
the B.G.'s who will command Combat
Commands A and B. Brig. Gen. John A.
Naylor of Fort Worth has A, and Brig.
Gen. Clayton P. Kerr of Dallas com-
mands B. For the sizeable Texas-Air-
Force-to-be, Walker went to Houston
for Col. George Gifford as chief of staff,
but so far . he hasn't settled on the air
general who will be in command.
Scattered over Texas are various TNG
companies in various stages of readiness
for the federal inspection which is the
prelude to activation. First to be ready
for this inspection was, rightly enough,
Company A, First Battalion, 143rd In-
fantry, from San Antonio, the Mother
of the Army. In all, 25 have applied for
activation, which means they have
reached the first stage of organization,
with a fourth of their officers and a
tenth of their enlisted men ready to go.
To Get More Pay
TNG's men will be equipped and paid
by the U. S. Army, as it gets ready
for its wartime job of the first line of
defense on the ground (the air forces
now say they are the first line of de-
fense). Guardsmen will be paid more
than double what they got as pre-1940
state troops. A buck private will get
$162.50 a year, for drilling once a week
and spending two weeks in summer
camp. Colonels will get $782 for the
same year's work. But the armories in
which they will drill once a week must
be provided by the state, and the 50th
Legislature will get a request for a
round million dollars a year for twoTEXAS WEEK 29
26 OCTOBER 46
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Texas Week, Inc. Texas Week, Volume 1, Number 11, October 26, 1946, periodical, October 26, 1946; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth586547/m1/29/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Private Collection of the Raymond B. Holbrook Family.